The inflammatory response is an attempt by the body to restore and maintain homeostasis after invasion by an infectious agent, antigen challenge, or physical, chemical or traumatic damage. While the inflammatory response is generally considered a healthy response to injury, the immune system can present an undesirable physiological response if it is not appropriately regulated. Specifically, unregulated oxidation and associated inflammation are major causes of tissue damage and clinically significant disease in preterm and term infants. This is due in large part to the immaturity in function of the natural immune system of infants, and especially preterm infants.
Breastfeeding has been associated with enhanced development and balanced growth and maturation of the infant's respiratory, gastrointestinal and immune systems, thereby providing protection of the infant to infection and inflammatory diseases. Breast milk appears to contain endogenous antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase, or other non-enzymatic antioxidants such as glutathione, lactoferrin and polyphenols, in addition to exogenous antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, E and selenium. Further, breast milk includes HMOs that not only act as pathogen receptor analogues, but activate immune factors by infant intestinal epithelial cells and/or associated immune cell populations. The function of these breast milk components, functioning as antioxidants and as immune modulators, includes not only the protection of breast milk lipids by peroxidation, but may also assist in the regulation of inflammatory responses to infection or other injury.
Not all infants receive human breast milk. Further, no vaccines are currently available for the prevention of inflammatory diseases. Therefore, development of safe and efficacious preventative or therapeutic methods would be beneficial, especially for infants.
It would therefore be desirable to provide nutritional compositions, and synthetic infant formulas in particular, that can produce nutritional benefits including improved immune system growth and development. It would additionally be beneficial if the nutritional compositions could modulate inflammation and enhance immunity against microbial infections, including bacterial and viral infections, and other inflammatory diseases.